Melanne Verveer

Melanne Verveer "is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that supports emerging women leaders in building vibrant democracies and strong economies. Verveer served as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady in the Clinton Administration. As a member of the White House senior staff, she advised the President and implemented a wide range of substantive policies, budget priorities and communications strategies. She was the First Lady's chief assistant in her international activities, where her responsibilities included overseeing Hillary Clinton's global initiatives on women's rights as human rights, democracy building, micro-enterprise development, and the education of women and girls. She organized the First Lady's historic trips overseas, including her travels to Central and South Asia, Russia, Northern Ireland, Central Europe and Africa. She helped to create the US government's Vital Voices Democracy Initiative to promote women's economic and political progress globally. The initiative was an outgrowth of the U.S. response to the UN 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in l995. Verveer also took the lead in establishing the President's Interagency Council on Women, which serves as a model for governments to address issues of concern to women. She was instrumental in coordinating the US response to the growing global problem of the trafficking of human beings and represented the US government at various international conferences."


 * Director, Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking
 * Former Member, President's Interagency Council on Women